SPECIAL PRICE Originally $65.00
1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History
R G Grant (ed)
ABC Books, HB, 9780733329555
$14.50 exGST $15.95 incGST ADD TO TROLLEY
The first wars known to history were the conflicts between the Sumerian states of Lagash and Umma, which took place about 4500 years ago in southern Mesopotamia. These conflicts – along with 1000 others – are given concise and easy-to-read entries in this lavishly illustrated book, providing a fascinating record of the armed combats that have shaped the political and cultural landscape of the world over five millennia. Packed with facts, the coverage is up-to-date (it ends with the Marjah Offensive of February 2010) and has been written by prominent military historians from across the globe. Offered at an amazing, bargain-basement price, 1001 Battles that Changed the Course of History will make a handsome gift for military enthusiasts of all ages.
December Release
The Deadly Sisterhood
Leonie Frieda
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, HB, 9780297852087
$45.45 exGST $50.00 incGST ADD TO TROLLEY
This is the fascinating account of eight women who wielded huge power in Renaissance Italy. Joined by birth, marriage and friendship, Lucrezia Turnabuoni, Clarice Orsini, Beatrice d’Este, Caterina Sforza, Isabella d’Este, Giulia Farnese, Isabella d’Aragona and Lucrezia Borgia all ruled city-states for a time in place of their men-folk, building up formidable – and often unwarranted – reputations in the process. All experienced great riches and power, but many also knew banishment, poverty, the death of a husband or the loss of one or more of their children. The Deadly Sisterhood is a great read and a worthy successor to Frieda’s bestselling Catherine de Medici (Phoenix. PB. $22.99).
Everest 1953
Mick Conefrey
OneWorld Publishers, HB, 9781851689460
$40.86 exGST $44.95 incGST ADD TO TROLLEY
Beginning with the British Reconnaissance expedition of 1951, this book details the events of 1953 that led to Sir Edmund Hillary becoming the fi rst European to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Using diaries, letters, memoirs and archival material, as well as interviews with the participants in that expedition and their families, Conefrey gives us the inside story of the expedition and shines a light on the other key players who enabled Hillary’s achievement. Perhaps even more interestingly, Conefrey also uses these sources to look at the way in which the expedition was reported at the time, and how myths and misconceptions infl uence the way we think about and remember this monumental feat.
A History of the World in Twelve Maps
Jerry Brotton
Allen Lane, HB, 9781846140990
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Throughout history, maps have been fundamental in shaping our view of the world, and our place in it. But far from being purely scientific objects, world maps are unavoidably partial and subjective, intimately bound up with the systems of power, authority and creativity of particular times and places. Here, Jerry Brotton examines the signifi cance of 12 world maps drawn from global history – from the mystical representations of ancient history to the satellite-derived imagery of today. He vividly re-creates the environments and circumstances in which each of the maps was made, showing how they convey a highly individual view of the world, how they both influenced and reflected contemporary events, and how, by reading them, we can better understand the worlds that produced them.
December Release
Iron Curtain
The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944 - 1956
Anne Applebaum
Allen Lane, HB, 9780713998689
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Reviewing this book, acclaimed British historian Anthony Beevor wrote: ‘Iron Curtain is an exceptionally important book which effectively challenges many of the myths of the origins of the Cold War. It is wise, perceptive, remarkably objective and brilliantly researched.’ This, along with equally fulsome reviews from historians Amanda Foreman and Timothy Garton Ash, indicates how important Anne Applebaum’s latest book is. Iron Curtain is a brilliant history of how Communism was imposed across a wide range of societies in the decade following WWII and a reminder of how fragile all societies are, and how vulnerable they can be.
On the Map
Why the World Looks the Way it Does
Simon Garfield
Profile Books, HB, 9781846685095
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These days, there’s no excuse for getting lost – not with what Simon Garfi eld calls ‘the instant, always-on, me-mapping of everywhere’. Map-making used to be more romantic, of course; the great explorers didn’t navigate by Google Maps. And back in the ancient days when unicorns apparently lurked around the Nile Delta, the world was being pieced together by people who really didn’t have a clue. Garfield discusses their efforts and those of many others, but this is more than just a history of cartography. There are also tales of frauds, gender differences, treasure hunts, thieves, Monopoly and fictional maps, including the Marauder’s Map of Hogwarts from Harry Potter. All accompanied by fascinating images of weird and wonderful maps.
Paper
An Elegy
Ian Sansom
Fourth Estate, PB, 9780007480265
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The history of civilisation is bound up with – and bound in – the history of paper. In Paper: An Elegy, novelist and literary critic Ian Sansom argues that the creation, trade and use of paper brought about a new era in human civilisation. Tracing the history of paper-making from the papyrus used by the Egyptians to today’s billion-dollar paper industry, he offers both a cultural overview and a series of warm, personal meditations on the history and meaning of paper in all its forms. Some readers will see this book as a valediction to the paper it’s printed on; others will see it as a celebration – only time will tell which was the more accurate.
Shakespeare's Restless World
Neil MacGregor
Allen Lane, HB, 9781846146756
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Based on a popular BBC Radio 4 series, this book reveals the fascinating stories behind 20 objects from Shakespeare's life and times. These range from the rich (such as the hoard of gold coins that make up the Salcombe treasure) to the very humble (the battered trunk and worn garments of an unknown pedlar). Each object allows MacGregor to explore one of the defining themes of the Shakespearean age – globalisation, reformation, piracy, Islam, magic and many others. Throughout, the great playwright’s words are woven into the histories of the objects to suggest where his ideas about religion, national identity and human nature itself may have come from. Also available: MacGregor’s A History of the World in 100 Objects (Penguin. PB. $24.99).
Soldaten
Sönke Neitzel, Harald Welzer
Scribe Publications, PB, 9781921844980
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In 2001, German historian Sönke Neitzel unearthed a cache of hitherto ignored reports in the British National Archives. The result is Soldaten, in which Neitzel mines a previously untapped source of wartime experience: the secretly recorded conversations of German prisoners of war. In his book, Neitzel has collaborated with renowned social psychologist Harald Welzer to tease out the historic context behind the conversations captured by covert surveillance, and reveal the apparent callous brutality at the heart of the German war machine. While U-boat crew, members of the Luftwaffe and on-the-ground soldiers give their views on Hitler, combat, death, rape and extermination, Neitzel and Welzer shed light on the psychology of war and the factors that sustained the Wehrmacht through its 10 long years of violent existence.
December Release
Vanished Kingdoms
The History of Half-Forgotten Europe
Norman Davies
Penguin, PB, 9780141048864
$24.55 exGST $27.00 incGST ADD TO TROLLEY
Nominating it one of The Guardian’s Books of the Year in 2011, political philosopher John Gray described Vanished Kingdoms as ‘Wonderfully exhilarating, civilized and graceful’. A fascinating history of the European kingdoms, duchies, empires and republics that have now disappeared but that were once fixtures on the map of their age, it answers many questions (What happened to the once-great Mediterranean ‘Empire of Aragon’? Why do so few know about the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, for a time the largest country in Europe?) and asks one or two of its own (Which current nations are likely to one day become a distant memory?). This original and enthralling book – now released in a paperback edition – peers through the cracks of history to discover the stories of lost realms across the centuries.
The Victorian City
Judith Flanders
Atlantic Books, HB, 9781848877955
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The author of the critically acclaimed social histories Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain and The Victorian House: Domestic Life from Childbirth to Deathbed now turns her attention to the greatest of all Victorian cities: London. In only a few decades, London grew from a Regency town to the biggest city the world had ever seen, with more than 6.5 million people and railways, street-lighting and new buildings at every turn. Judith Flanders explores the markets, transport systems, sewers, rivers, slums, alleys, cemeteries, gin palaces, chophouses and entertainment emporia of the city, revealing and revelling in its variety, vibrancy and squalor.
Highly Recommended
Antarctica
A Biography
David Day
Vintage, HB, 9781741669084
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In his research, historian David Day drew upon libraries and archives from around the world to provide the first large-scale history of Antarctica.
Highly Recommended
Debt
The First 5,000 Years
David Graeber
Melville House, PB, 9781612191812
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Anthropologist David Graeber shows that humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods for more than five millennia, and ties this little-known history to the credit crisis of the present day and the future of the global economy.
Highly Recommended
The Second World War
Antony Beevor
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, HB, 9780297844976
$36.32 exGST $39.95 incGST ADD TO TROLLEY
A magisterial, single volume history of the greatest conflict the world has ever known, written by the author of Stalingrad (Penguin. PB. $26.95).
Highly Recommended
Shackleton's Whisky
Neville Peat
Random House, PB, 9781869799465
$31.77 exGST $34.95 incGST ADD TO TROLLEY
Subtitled ‘A Spirit of Discovery’, this is the story of Ernest Shackleton's 1907 Antarctic Expedition, and the cases of Mackinlay’s single malt whisky that he left behind.
Highly Recommended
Tudors
Peter Ackroyd
Macmillan, PB, 9780230764071
$29.99 exGST $32.99 incGST ADD TO TROLLEY
The second volume of Ackroyd’s History of England (after Foundation, Pan Macmillan, PB, $22.99) recounts the story of the English Reformation and the making of the Anglican Church.